In His Steps

Meet the Sawade Family

2007-02-17T12:50:00.030-05:00

February Update!

click here

Aaron and Jamithy
Austin (7)

Ethan (41/2)
Dan'Nijah (3)
Brayden (2 1/2)
Toriano (2)

? Sawade Baby #6 (August)

Thank you for visiting!

We are so excited to share about God's goodness
as He continues to
teach us, correct us, train us and equip us to glorify His name.

================================

___________________________

http://www.ntm.org/

News from the Field:

2007-01-12T11:22:00.000-05:00

Jason & Nisae Williamson serving in Papua New Guinea

Hello everyone,

Thank you so much for all your prayers for us and for all the encouraging emails and notes! We are so thankful to have such an encouraging team of people supporting us.

I (Jason) just got back from 5 days in the West Gimi tribe helping the missionaries there in the village of Kora to build their new house. The missionaries; Seong and Mina Mun and their national co-workers Balus and Inei are in the process of learning to speak a dialect of the Gimi language. When they finish, they will begin to translate lessons and begin to teach the people in their own language. They just returned from furlough to find their old house in “unrestorable” condition. Their new house is now nearly complete. During my time in there I was reminded of how lost these people really are and how different their animistic thinking is. The second day we were there a 17 year old boy died, he was only sick for two days. This came as a shock to the people. Their custom is that when a family member dies, to show real sadness, they must cut off one of their fingers. So the brother of the boy who died came up to us the day after with his finger in bandages. He had cut off his finger down to his knuckle to show the depth of his sorrow. The missionary there then took and mended it up as best as he could. It was really heartrending to see that without the hope of Jesus Christ the Kora people have no peace when someone dies. Because of their animistic beliefs, death is never caused from natural reasons or sickness, but rather from curses put on them from someone else. So after the boy died the people rubbed ash all over their faces and said that they were going to find the person that had put the curse on the boy. They then took some hair from the dead boy and put it on the end of a stick. One man held the stick and all the others with their bows and arrows followed behind. The hair was supposed to lead them to the boy’s killer.

1. Kora people watched us all day long as we put up the new house for Seong and Mina.

2. Putting ash all over their faces is a way to mourn the loss of someone.

3.Seong, trying to fix up this man’s finger.

Would you pray for the Kora people, that the Lord would prepare their hearts for the Bible lessons? Also pray for missionaries Seong and Mina Mun & Balus and Inei, that the Lord would give them strength and understanding while they continue to learn language.

House Building

We have recently set up a house building fund for ourselves. Our goal is to begin house building sometime later this year. We have begun planning and will need to begin purchasing materials for our house including wood, plumbing, electrical, furniture, appliances, etc. We currently have a washing machine and our solar electric system. Would you pray that the Lord would provide for our needs in this area? Our goal is about $20,000. Currently we have about $5,000. If you would like to help us with this need, please make a note on your gifts “Jason Williamson, house building” and send to NTM, 1000 E First St , Sanford , FL � 32771 .

We are privileged to serve with you. Keep praying for direction for our family. Soon we will be decided where to allocate and begin the house building process to live among a people group, learn their language, translate scriptures, teach Bible lessons, and ultimately see a church planted that will thrive and bring hope to generations to come. Thanks for being involved in making this happen!

Working together,

Jason & Nisae Williamson

2006-09-29T17:36:00.000-04:00

Greetings from the Sawades!

Welcome to our website!

We use this site for two very good reasons.

First, to keep in touch with our ministry partners

and second to keep a journal

of all God is doing in our family's life.

Please feel free to visit often for new updates

or encourage us by droping us an email!

September Update!

2006-09-29T14:16:00.000-04:00

Walking In Faith

We are so amazed by God's continued faithfulness in our lives! He has kept us here, in training, for over a year now! Isn't that exciting!

Our Home!
A little over a year an a half ago we decided that we wanted to take the next step... and sell our home. Which would enable us to move forward in training for missions. We planned to sell our home and have enough money to pay off the house and to pay all our tuition for Bible school. Well, we still have our house. God hasn't allowed it to sell and we are at rest with that. Through us not selling our home He has shown us His continued faithfulness and has grown our faith in who He is! We rejoice that we are in His will and can rest assured that He will take care of selling our home in His perfect timing!
At present our house is vacant and we are still paying a monthly mortgage. Please, continue to pray that God would provide additional finances to pay our school bill.

Brayden's Hearing!
Brayden just had another visit to the ear specialist on Thursday. Two test confirmed that he passed and CAN hear in both ears now! Praise God...!!! We also have been able to wean him off of his gas and acid reflux medications!!!!!

Hearing God's Word...
is life changing and we can both tell you that we will never be the same people we were before we came to this place. Sitting under God's Word has changed and challenged our every motive, thought & action in our daily walks.God has blessed us with some really awesome friends that just so happen to be our teachers (co-labors)! He continues to use them in our lives. We love to seek advice and answers to many of our questions from the insights of these people. We appreciate their ministry so much!

Ask us! We would love to share with you what we are learning!

Ethan
is loving childcare and is trying to complete full sentences. He loves to still do EVERYTHING his older brother does. His favorite thing to do is to pick up and play with ANY bug/insect he can find. Dead or alive! Its pretty crazy...the kid is fearful of a slip'n slide but not bugs/insects.
Every day we have our work cut out for us with how defiant and strong willed he can be. We are doing the best we can to be very consistent while trusting God for wisdom and strength.

Austin
is still our big helper! He loves to do crafts, cook, shower, play with bugs, play soccer and wrestle with dad and Ethan and do just about anything with his good friend Karter!
He is able to read 3 letter words now and is getting closer to being able telling time. However, I do need to teach the poor kid how to tie his shoelaces :) He is privileged ( paid for by Karter's parents) to be able to attend a homeschooling group, called Kidworks, all day every Monday. Him and Karter ride with our good friend and staff lady Michelle Hobbs an hour away to Grand Ledge, MI. There he learns things like... Music, Art, Spanish, Writing, History, Science and Gym! Wow...he loves it! Marilyn, my good friend and Karter's mother, still meets with the boys once a week to work on math, phonics and any other homework they have from kidworks. What a blessing and he's having a great time!

Boy's Health
Tis the season for once again sickness to run rampant here at school. Ethan was really sick for 5 days and has had to go back on a daily steroid for asthma. Brayden has a double ear infection,congestion, sneezing, coughing and a runny nose. Poor little guy.
He is being treated with antibiotics so we hope to see improvement real soon! Praying for our health is much appreciated!
Thanking the Lord for providing us with health insurance and perseverance through many sleepless nights!

Busy, busy busy!
Unfortunately, we are very busy and can't keep you posted much more than once a month. Aaron is looking forward to adding another post with some exciting things that God is teaching him and our family! Coming soon... so be watching for it!

Here is a picture of my good friend (sister) Valerie! She is an enormous help to us with the boys and some house chores and is a great encouragement to me! I asked you to pray for her this summer while she went to Brazil. She's back and has more passion than ever to reach the lost. Thank you for praying for her! Valerie is going on to Missouri to continue in the training. She is desiring to go to PNG and who knows, maybe God will have us both heading into the jungle together some day!

I also have another good friend named, Ciara who is preparing to go on in the training as well. Please pray for her as she continues to seek the Lord's wisdom and as she chooses which training facility to attend. Presently, she is looking to finish up the training in England.
Sorry, I wish I had a picture of her.

August Update-Roofing For Jesus!

2006-08-27T14:32:00.000-04:00

Roofing For Jesus!

Hey! Sorry, its been so long since we've last updated our website. We have been so busy these last few weeks and havn't been able to update you with all God is doing!

We are thrilled and extremely humbled to see God's people partnering with us through the many prayers, physical labor and financial gifts we have received. It has been amazing to see not only our faith continue to grow, but the faith of those who give, and also the speechlessness of those who witness just how faithful our God really is.

The roofing project, on our house back home, was such a blessing from the Lord!
Aaron's grandparents generously loaned us enough funds to buy all the supplies needed to reroof the house.
God then supplied all the laborers. On Friday, a good friend of ours on staff here at NTBI (Steve Cretsinger), drove down to Toledo and was ready to work by 6:30AM. After a long day of hard work and sweat another good friend of ours, from our home church (Tim Alley), came to help and was such an encouragement. The following morning God brought an astonishing 16 men to our house to finish the project. With a ton of hard work and sweat the roof was completely done by 4:00PM! Talk about humbling someone...we've needed to get that roof done for eight years and God did it in one afternoon. It was so neat to see that God's timing was not then but now.

We want to say a special thank you to Phil Beemer, from our church here in Jackson, for taking our prayer requestst to the church body and spearheading the project. Thank you for all your hard work in organizing the group of men to come down.
We also want to thank Joe Groholske for donating nearly half of the shingles needed for the roof.
Also a special thanks to our good friend Bill Davenport, from our home church, for all his help in organizing the group of guys to come and help.
Thank you to Living Hope Church for helping to provide food for the guys.
Thank you to those of you who couldn't make it but were lifting us up in prayer.
Thank you to the many wives and children who sacrificed "time" with their husbands and fathers that day.

The project was a great testimony of teamwork!
We are so delighted that each and everyone of you are willing to do your part in
reaching the lost with Jesus Christ.

Family Update

2006-08-26T17:57:00.000-04:00

The Kids!

They are doing great! Austin just had his 5th birthday, Ethan's 2 year old temperment is getting better and Brayden is smiling!

We are pretty healthy as of right now...we are all getting over having sore throats and bad coughs. Praise the Lord, no one had to miss class this week!

Classes are back in session and we are crazy busy once again.
We are studying the New Testiment and are really enjoying it! These are the classes we are taking this semester...

Romans
II Corinthians
Family Relations
Doctrine III Soteriology
Doc III Angelology
Doc III Pneumatology
Ephesians
I & II Peter
Hebrews
Intro to New Tribes Mission
James
Galatians

And our electives are :

*Ruth/Song of Solomon/Ecclesiates
Prayer Practicum

We love having the opportunity to be here... its the BEST YEAR(S) OF OUR LIVES...so far!

Praise! We had to have our huge down-payment for school down last Monday the 21st. God blessed us with $900 on our school bill over the summer but that fell short by $1200. They gave us until Wednesday (30th) to pay the remaining balance. Tuesday afternoon we found that God provided, by 3 anonymous donations, all but $250 of our downpayment! Again, we are so encouraged by how He chooses to keep us here and we are so excited to tell the lost just how great He is!

The Lord has supplied us with plenty of grocieries, a beautiful dinning room table (a freshman couple, here at NTBI, gave to us), a dryer and dishwasher (Aaron fixed up!) that was donated to our church and (today) a washing machine from staff friends here at NTBI!
Wow, we don't need any of this to survive or live on but God loves each of us so much that he just blesses us with these useful things to make life a bit easier! What a blessing!

Brayden's Hearing...

2006-07-25T13:51:00.000-04:00

Today we met with the hearing specialist a second time. Brayden failed his hearing test in the hospital and after many tries today; still is failing in his right ear. If it is fluid, behind the eardrum, their are certain things they can do but not until their older. If it turns out that no fluid is present they say it could be permanent.

In the mean time we praise God for the hearing he has in his left ear! He is so good and so faithful!

We have more test scheduled for August 23rd.

Your prayers keep our ministry going; thanks for your faithful partnership!

2006-07-23T18:42:00.000-04:00

While you were sleeping...

....We were praying for you!

Sawade July Updates...plus a ton of photos!

2006-07-21T14:28:00.000-04:00

Drop us an email...it would be so encouraging to hear from you! sawades4christ@yahoo.com

Wow, classes start in just about 4 weeks . We can't believe the summer break is coming to an end so soon. As we reflect back on the last couple months we are humbled by the Lord's faithfulness and for His amazing provisions that enable us to stay here in training.

We are so excited to start classes again and to learn much more about who Jesus Christ really is. Please pray for us to understand what we are learning and for our family as we adjust to a very tight schedule again.

Please, pray for Aaron. While working on a side job two weeks ago he got poison ivy all over the left side of his body (arm, chest and legs) and as spread to the right. It looks better but his skin is extremely damaged, still raised and itches. Please, pray that he will not be permanently scared and for total healing.

We would appreciate your prayers for Brayden. The little guy is presently on four different medications and has an upcoming surgery consultation August 15th at U of M.
The medicine is helping to manage severe gas pains, acid reflux, thrush and conjunctivitis. The medication seems to be helping but we are praying that the Lord would allow him to be taken off all medication soon.

Please continue to pray for our house in Toledo to sell. Aaron will be heading down to Toledo in a week or so to re-roof the house. We are so grateful that God has provided finances and a few volunteer laborers to help with this huge task, which they plan on doing Aug. 4th & 5th. Pray that they can complete it in the 2 days planned. Safety is our only concern. Please be in prayer for complete safety for all who are graciously considering helping us. If you are interested in helping, you can send us an email or give us a call.
While down in Toledo Aaron will be spending a few days getting the house ready to be put back on the market. Presently, the house is in poor condition and needs a lot of work. Please, pray for us to remain faithful in trusting God to work all this out with in the next four weeks.

We also will be traveling to Warsaw, New York to help Aaron's parents. They just moved to pastor a new church and need help partitioning their basement into many different rooms. We will be their for one full week during the middle of August.

With such a busy schedule we had to pass on a one week missions trip to Missouri, in August. The youth group, from or church in Jackson, is heading down to the New Tribes Mission Training Center (MTC). Helping out w/ the building of new apartments. This is were we plan to be in the fall of 2007! We were really excited about the possible opportunity but are learning to trust in His PERFECT timing in every area.

Thank each of you for your faithful prayers and how you make us staying here possible. God has really used you to challenge our hearts and to keep us focused. As we embark on a new chapter at Bible School we hope that you too will be encouraged by all God is doing.

Love the Sawades

We just got our family pics taken at Walmart...

2006-07-18T22:39:00.000-04:00

R0327 R0450 R0218

R0152
We wern't able to purchase as many pictures
as we would have liked to for family and friends.
Click here if you would like to order: www.goportraits.com
Studio # 5160 Week 0622 Roll 12 Customer 005 Code 2713

July ~ Sawade Family Update

2006-07-18T16:27:00.000-04:00

Remember if you want to save pics to your computer...
1st left click on the pic to enlarge it
than right click on the desired pic
and select save image as...and place it into a folder

Austin lost his first tooth and the second one is just days from falling out!

Aaron took both the boys to the dentist for their first appointment. The boys were amazing!

Daddy could visit with us so much more before he got ~ Poison Ivy all over him. He couldn't
hold, bath or dress us for 1 1/2 weeks.

Austin has found the cure for mosquito bites!

Anti-itch ointment and tons of band-aids!

2006-07-18T15:37:00.000-04:00

Little Tribal boy already!
When we travel to Toledo Aaron's grandparents always have a room for us! Both Great Grandpa and Grandma have always had so much fun playing outside with the boys!

Sleeping, smiling and cuddling!

July Sawade Family Update

2006-07-18T15:05:00.000-04:00

Boys, boys and more boys!!!!!!

July Sawade Family Update

2006-07-18T13:11:00.000-04:00

Aaron working at our church's outreach event in Jackson.

Daddy playing and doing a great job taking care of all THREE boys!

Kisses, Kisses and more Kisses...

See his tiny little hand...its just amazing.

Austin loves to take care of Brayden and spends most of the
time holding his hand.

Ethan, likes to kick back and chill out...

Brayden's first bath

More and more Kisses!!!!

Please, Pray for our good friends the Herdters

2006-07-18T09:00:00.000-04:00

Hello to all our friends,

We'd like to share some news!

Emme (pron. Emmy) Grace was born Sunday, July 16 at 6:32 pm! She was 8lb. 5oz. and 21 1/2 in. long. We have had a wirlwind of a week of wonderful joys and sobering scares. A cleft pallet was discovered in the back of Emme's mouth on Monday. Since then we've been finding out that this is a very common
birth deffect and that it is easily corrected with surgery by their first birthday. There may be other difficulties along the way with speech or hearing. Right now though, she is struggling with spitting up and choking, sometimes to the point of not breathing. We don't know if this is related to the cleft pallet. This has been the most trying and scary of all. We have had to take shifts and never let her out of our sight night or day. We thank God for allowing us to catch every episode of choking so far. Beth's mom is staying here right now for which we are truly thankful. Please pray that we will discover why Emme is choking and that as she gains strength, she will be able to cough and work these out herself. We are so thankful for our new little girl and are trusting in God's loving hands and wise bestowment.

In His care,

Garrett, Beth, Gabe, and Emme

July Sawade Family Update

2006-07-17T11:59:00.000-04:00

Austin holding Brayden's tiny little hand!

Happy July 4th!!!

Grandpa and Grandma Sawade came to visit us from New York!

The boys had so much fun! We went out to dinner, had icecream at the Parlor,
the boys played putt-putt , we went swimming at the hotel where G &G were staying and
watched the fireworks in the front lawn of our church here in Jackson!

Take a minute to read this amazing challenge for our hearts.

2006-07-01T11:48:00.000-04:00

Do you thank the Lord for pain?

Thank you Lord for pain.
Through it you draw me closer to you. By it you drive me to my knees in prayer. From it you forge in me the image of Christ...

Click here: Greg Stier - President of Dare 2 Share Ministries

2006-06-24T12:43:00.000-04:00

Our Home Church... having our annual outreach carnival.

Our first visit back to Toledo with Brayden and the boys!

It was such a blessing to be able to visit our church family!

Brayden Jay-Allen Sawade Has Arrived!!!

2006-06-21T15:19:00.000-04:00

After a rough delivery Brayden Jay~Allen entered the world.

Born on Tuesday 6-20-06; our 8th anniversary!

He was born at 1:21 p.m.,
arriving 8 days early, weighing 8 lbs. 4 oz. and measuring 21 1/4" long.

We praise God for everything going well and for the both of us pulling through just fine.

Austin and Ethan seem do be loving their new baby brother! Brayden looks identical to Ethan when he was born. Its amazing!

We thank you all for being so committed to praying for us and
for the huge encouragement you bring to our family.
For those of you who live in Toledo

we plan to be visiting you this Sunday!

A very special thanks to our dear friends
Kent and Marilyn Fannin
for being so generous and watching both Austin and Ethan for 30 hours.
With 4 of their own children this was a huge task and we can't thank them enough.
It truly was a wonderful blessing!

Also a special thanks to ...
Marilyn's mother and sister in-law. Sue and Kelley offered to help watch the boys so
Marilyn could be with us for the birth of Brayden.
It was such a blessing to have a close friend by my side and to have her take most of the photos you've seen.

We also want to thank our friends and staff for the dinners they provided for our family.

What a loving and generous way to give.

Thank you so much!

2006-06-08T22:34:00.000-04:00

Expand the Reach of the Gospel
IMAGINE... LIVING IN A PLACE WHERE...
JESUS CHRIST
... IS NOT KNOWN .
IMAGINE... LIVING IN A PLACE WHERE
THE WORD OF GOD ...DOES NOT EXIST.
IMAGINE... HAVING THE OPPORTUNITY
TO PLAY A HUGE PART IN SEEING THE LOST REACHED WITH
THE SAVING MESSAGE OF JESUS CHRIST.

2006-06-08T00:15:00.000-04:00

Thank you for visiting!
We have so much to update you on.

We tried to keep it brief
but have tons of pictures to share with you!

Check out updates on...
THE LORDS PROVISION for work,
the BLESSING OF OUR NEW APARTMENT,
the BOYS,
the PREGNANCY and MORE.

Remember, if you would like to save any pictures~
double click to enlarge, right click on the mouse and select save to computer.

Our Hands and Feet in Papua New Guinea

2006-06-07T10:04:00.000-04:00

Please pray for them as they have just arrived,
as full time missionaries in the country of Papua New Guinea,
and are adjusting to life over seas.

http://livinghopetoledo.org/JasoNisae/

Hope this email encourages your heart
as much as it does ours!

Hello from Beautiful Papua New Guinea!!!

Pregnancy Update...

2006-06-06T20:51:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures as
our little blessing, Brayden Jay~Allen, grows and grows...

Brayden's first middle name is in honor of our pastor;
Pastor Jay Williamson.
He has discipled us and has been used by God to challenge our hearts to live holy and committed lives for Jesus Christ.
Pastor Jay, thank you for your ministry and for being a great example to us both!

Brayden's second middle name is in honor of
Jason Allen Williamson.
Our very good friend who is serving, with his family,
as missionaries in PNG.
Both him and his wife, Nisae,
have also been a great example of Christ like faith and
have been inspirational in our lives.
God has used them to plant the seeds and
challenge our hearts in tribal missions.
We love you guys!

As of last week , the 30th, I was dilated to 2 and 30% effaced. Good news but it still could take a few weeks.

Today the 6th, 3 weeks from my original due date, I went in and the baby is already estimated to be 7-71/2 pounds, at least. My next appointment is Monday the 12th with plans to induce on Tuesday the 13th. We'll see, maybe he'll decide to come sooner... we can only hope.

Today the 12th, the doctor has chosen to wait one more week. He has promised to induce, if the baby doesn't come on his own, on the 20th. Our 8th wedding anniversary!
We've been praying that the Lord would give the doctor wisdom and we believe He has. Excited and anxious to see our little guy whenever the Lord decides to bring him. Thank you for all your prayers.

Healthy? Yes, both of us have been very healthy through out the whole pregnancy! Infact, with the other boys my blood pressure was a concern...with this one my blood pressure is great!

Cravings? Not really... the first 1/2 of the pregnancy I ate lowfat yogurt all the time. Recently, I've noticed I've been eating a lot of cereal and could live off of lowfat yogurt ice cream! During the whole pregnancy...fruit ALWAYS sounds delicious! I hated watermelon before but now I love it; as long as its sweet.

Austin and Ethan...

2006-06-06T19:49:00.000-04:00

The Boys...

Happy 2nd Birthday to Ethan!

Austin and Karter playing soccer!
A special thanks to Karter and his parents for paying for Austin's soccer fees.

Aaron and Karter's dad, Kent, were able to help coach each weeks game!
They loved it.

One of our closest friends, Valerie! She loves the boys and
watches them all the time. You can pray for her this summer. She is heading to
Brazil and taking a boat down the Amazon River to work in a tribe. Please pray
for the Lord to accomplish much work with all those involved and for safty.
We love you and miss you Val.

Playing T-Ball in the hallway on the third floor!

The boys have been very healthy lately...
What a praise!

After taking a bath Ethan ate some cookies and milk with daddy!

Recently we took both to the ENT (ear, nose and throat specialist) to have their ears looked at and their hearing tested. Thankfully, they have no damage from all the ear infections and neither need to have tubes put in, as of right now.

They both love our new place but really miss all the activity and students the school year brings.

Austin has started Kindergarten. Both him and his friend Karter are home schooled by Karter's mom, my good friend, Marilyn. She does a great job with them! They home school 3 days a week for just about 2 hours. Austin is learning a ton!

We decided to start home schooling now so that both the boys and us will have a lighter load through out the school year.

Austin misses having a back yard to play in all the time and can't wait for the chance to visit Toledo and go to the zoo.

Here are a few of his favorite things to do...

Play soccer, go to the park and watch Animal Planet. He LOVES to take showers...he can stay in their all day; literally.
Austin's favorite thing to do with his dad is wrestle. When he is not asking to take a shower he is asking to wrestle.

Seeing the boys and Aaron wrestle on the floor always makes me smile!

Ethan has been talking so much more these days. He tries to climb on everything and seems to be fearless.

He is a sweetheart but is also very challenging at times.

He loves to pick up and play with bugs (just like his older brother), go to the park, play soccer and playing tee ball.
He is very active and is usually into everything. He loves to climb up the sink, in the bathroom, and turn on the water and wash his hands. He says its to wash his hands but as we all know its to PLAY and get water ALL over the place.

Waiting for baby brother...
Austin is counting down the days until his baby brother arrives. Ethan is excited too but we think he thinks my belly button is named Brayden.

Apartment Update!

2006-06-06T19:39:00.000-04:00

Old Apartment Pictures

Our 16X12 living room, dining room and kitchen!

door on left woman's bathroom
door on right utility closet...where we got our water!

This is were the boys took their baths, I took
showers and we washed our veggies.

dump buckets..."plumbing under the sink"

Geting behind on dishes
wasn't to difficult...

New Apartment Pictures!

These photos are taken in all four directions.....the pantry is amazing.... and we have never had such a huge closet!

Bathroom trouble maker

Praise the Lord for windows!

Boys love to help wash dishes!

Coloring...

Work Update...

2006-06-06T19:19:00.000-04:00

Aaron is still employed with ABC. He is working Monday through Friday from 9-1 and once a week he cuts the lawn for someone.

Aaron has been making calls and looking for more work. We are praying that the Lord will bring something full time for the summer.

It feels like we are in limbo while waiting for the arrival of Brayden. Since we don't have family up here Aaron desires to stay home with the boys for a few days to help take care of all of us. What a guy!

Schools Out!

2006-06-06T18:52:00.000-04:00

Found some bugs...

in the tree before the graduation ceremony.

We are so excited to see summer come and to complete our first year of training!

God is so good and has truly taken care of our every need.

Seeing God keep us here with all the struggles of finding work and balancing work with school
has been so amazing.

We give Him all the honor and glory!

Currently, we are 3 weeks into our break and enjoying much needed family time.
Aaron and I both miss the classes but don't miss the busy work and fast paced schedule.

2006-05-05T11:40:00.000-04:00

Hey, How great is our God? Can anyone try and explain it?

God has been so faithful to us and as we press through
training we become even more excited and humbled that
God would choose to use us to take part in getting the gospel to
a place where it has never been.

Over the summer break, we hope to be visiting Toledo often.
We are excited to meet one on one with individuals and families
inviting them to join our team; playing a huge part in getting the
gospel to people who have never heard.

Have you thought about how God would have you serve in our
ministry or in tribal missions in general?

What an opportunity of a lifetime!

Taking part in much more than praying and financially
supporting us but actually going with us. Seeing God use
us to be your link to tribal missions and reaching the people
who have never had the opportunity to hear of His amazing grace.

2006-04-23T15:34:00.000-04:00

Greetings to you
from the Sawade Family!

Click on any pic
to enlarge photo...
Feel free to enlarge,
right click and save photo to your computer.

The Boys...

are getting so big!
Austin is excited about home schooling with his very good friend Karter!
My friend, Marilyn, and I will be starting with them in a few weeks; by jump starting them during the summer months it will make the training during our junior semester much more profitable and not overwhelming.
We have decided to home school them during the afternoons so that we don't miss out on
any of the amazing things being taught during the morning classes.
This plan enables both of us to home school our boys with a
lighter kindergarden load during the school year
and attend the awesome classes coming up next semester!

Ethan is starting to say complete sentences now. He is still as feisty as ever but has really been a cute little squirt. He still loves to do everything Austin does, especially when it comes to wrestling. Ethan also has a good friend named Micah, Karter's little brother. Our families are very similar. We have grown closer together during our training and praise the Lord for all the good friends we have here.

Both boys have been healthy for a couple weeks now...
Praise the Lord!
They are doing well and love it here.

Thank you for praying for them!

In fact, God is taking awesome care of ALL of us by using people like you...
Thank you so much for allowing the Lord
to use you in this way!

Summer News:
As the summer fast approaches, we have recently decided, with much prayer, that we will be staying here in Jackson over the summer break.
Please continue to pray for us as we have many unknown details and continue to pray that the Lord will sell our home back in Toledo.

Baby News -

Tuesday, we will have 7 full weeks (hopefully) left until we meet our little guy, Brayden! Both Austin and Ethan arrived 2 weeks early so it would be nice to see that continue. We are excited to see this little blessing from the Lord and his brothers are also anxious to meet him! The pregnancy is going real well.

Thank you for all your prayers

We are so excited to partner with you. Its been so encouraging seeing God build our prayer and financial support team.
Because of your gifts and sacrifices we will ALL
be involved in taking the good news of the Gospel to
people who have yet to hear of God's amazing grace.
You are so important and vital to our ministry... as we press forward we would like to build a stronger relationship with you. We hope to have the opportunity to individually meet with you and share our ministry with you even more!

Working together,

Reflections on our past year of training...COMING SOON

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2006-03-21T20:52:00.000-05:00

Hi, everyone! Thanks for praying for us continually these last few weeks! We have really felt the impact of your prayers.

Aaron and I thought it was time to give yet another health update on the family.

On Monday, 20th, we took the boys in for a physical.

The doctor said Austin looked great! She then followed that with he'll have to get 3 shots

and blood taken for a lead screening, hemoglobin and iron test.

For the next 24 hours he ran a high fever and developed a sore throat.

It is Tuesday evening and his body seems to be adjusting much better now.

Ethan also had to get his blood taken for lead screening, hemoglobin and iron test. She seemed rather concerned about his continuing breathing problems while sick and diagnosed him with Asthma.

She is also sending him to a ears, nose and throat specialist because of his many ear infections.

She is leaning towards having tubes put in sooner than later.

He is presently on 3 different steroids and finishing up 1 antibiotics.

We are giving him treatments every 4 hours through the day and night and he seems to be doing much better.

At least one of these steroids will be continued every day for the next 2 months.

Aaron and I have been feeling much better...

Don't be discouraged because we sure aren't!

We realize this is just a season and the Lord has given us so much

peace that we don't even recognize it as an issue.

We are so excited to be here and are looking forward to finishing our first year of training in 8 weeks!!!

Wow...time as flown by and we are so excited to keep pressing forward!

We also have some important prayer request ...

posted on the prayer and praise link

2006-03-21T20:24:00.000-05:00

Mommy, Ethan and Brayden at 6.5 months

for new pics head over to... the Sawade Famlily Photo Link

2006-03-14T11:16:00.000-05:00

Second Update This Week: Ethan is doing much better in regards to the HFMD but if you could continue to pray for our health.

Austin's frequent nightmares and painful mouth soars

Ethan's bad cough that literally kept him and I awake all night. He can't sleep at all because of the cough. He also might have an ear infection again.

We visit the doctor tonight for both boys.

Aaron's complete recovery from his cold.

Jamithy, for her 16 plus blisters on her hands and feet

and her headaches & nose bleeds; which seem to becoming more frequent.

Thanks for all your prayers!

We also want to say a special thanks to the childcare staff here at NTBI.

They have really worked hard at keeping our children healthy.

2006-03-12T21:52:00.000-05:00

Greetings again from the Sawades!

We just returned from a visit back to Toledo!

We would like to say congratulations to Jeffrey and Korinne King!

My sister and her new husband were married on Friday evening.

Wow... only one single sister left

I can't believe their even old enough to be dating.

Our son, Austin, was in the wedding and did a great job

walking down the aisle with his cousin; Faith-Marie!

We want to wish the new couple a great honeymoon and a safe return!

Love you...Rinnie!

Unfortunately, what we thought to be a cold or two year molars for Ethan on Tuesday,

turned out to be Hand, Foot and Mouth disease.

Poor little guy...

as if the craziness of the wedding wasn't enough. Thursday, Ethan kept grabbing his mouth and we couldn't do anything for him. He couldn't eat or drink all day. After 17 hours of pain, crying, excessive drooling, bumps( now we know they're blisters or ulcers) starting to appear all over his body,and the fear of him becoming dehydrated we both felt that something wasn't rightand took him to the Emergency Room. We couldn't believe it. They took us right backand within 20 min. upon arrival, we had already seen the doctor. He took one look at Ethan and seemed to know what he had. The doctor informed us that it was a virus and their wasn't anything they or we could do for him to treat the virus.

However, because Ethan's mouth and throat were full of open ulcers they mixed up a "magic mouthwash" (Maalox, Benadryl and Lidocaine...really yucky). Because Ethan couldn't spit it out, we had to hold him down and put a little bit in both sides of his mouth and down his throat every 2-3 hours. By almost 3:00 AM the "magic mouthwash" was working and Ethan drank a full cup of liquid!!!!!!!!

Praise the Lord, for pulling us through sickness once again!

The doctor and nurse told us that this virus wasn't that contagious but Austin and I both have it now. Austin's case is more mild...we treat his mouth soars with the "magic mouthwash" when he is in pain.

I've had painful blisters on my hands since Saturday evening and seem to be getting more. I only have one mouth ulcer (and it feels better today) and see very few spots on the rest of my body.

The Lord is so faithful and we really believe He allows us to battle so much sickness for a good reason. Every time our precious little ones are sick we find ourselves depending on our Father even more.

As we found ourselves rushing to the hospital the other night the only thing I found myself doing was conversing with the Lord.

Telling Him, even though He knows, just how hard it is feeling helpless with our children and how scary it is thinking of being in another country where you can't just run them down to the ER.

The Lord reminded me that it would only be by His strength, not our strength, that we will we be able to go and choose to trust him with our children. This blessed reminder brought me much comfort and peace.

Lord, even in these times,

when our faith is challenged in trusting you with the most precious gifts in our lives,

please help us to stay focused on what you call us to do

and trust that you will take care of YOUR children.

2006-02-21T21:53:00.000-05:00

Wow, this week has been so encouraging to us since
Papua New Guinea

is were we feel led to minister at this time!

We had guest speaker, Brad Buser, a missionary
formerly in a tribe of PNG,
speaking in chapel this whole week!

Honestly, each day brought many real fears to the surface

while serving in a foreign field but

accompanied with that an overwhelming amount of peace and excitement,

filled our hearts,to GO and to be USED!
We are so excited to see what exactly God is planning for our future

and how He will use our family.
Life is so good... not perfect or easy....but real good!

Why? ... because we desire to talk to Jesus every day.

Sure its been hard...but through our trials we have seen much growth and have gained a much clearer understanding of

who God is

and

who God is to us!
Choosing to serve God has been the BEST
choice we've ever made!

Hey! We can't believe just how fast our training is going. We love it and can't believe how much we are learning. We have been in classes and chapels that have truly been so instrumental to our spiritual walk with the Lord.

Training Update:
Aaron's first class is Life of Christ. Childcare is not open until 9:00... sadly Jamithy has to miss out on some important classes. We both attend Chapel followed with Prophets Class and Doctrine II~Theology. The morning goes by supper fast.

Aaron has just finished the Jehovah Witness elective. Gaining great insight to what it is they truly believe.

Jamithy has finished a 1/3 credit hour on Financial management. The class was mostly familiar but challenged us both to walk a life with great integrity and truth.

Jamithy went to a free seminar, over a three day period a couple weeks ago, to hear one of our instructors speak on the Christian Life - Legalism, Liberty and License. Being totally accepted in Christ and having our eyes opened even more to the marvelous grace he bestows on us. Wow!
Jamithy found herself captivated every moment by what truths God has given us in His Word! Jamithy, said "she is so glad she went because the more you here it the better it sinks in and the more the Lord reveals just who He is to us. What a privilege!"
We will both be taking this class again in our senior semester here at the school.

The truth we have gained of who God is has truly changed our lives and we are so excited to press on serving Christ Jesus. We have been told we are just scraping the tip of the surface... what a great adventure it is GETTING TO KNOW CHRIST!~

Our family finds itself speechless to God's grace and faithfulness in our lives!
He is so mighty and awesome! What a privilege we have serving Him.

Work Update:

Its been so encouraging seeing God at work. Last semester we were struggling to pay tuition and were faced with having to leave a couple times. Even in that God always provided even if it was right up to the last minute.

This semester we find it much different. We were behind in paying our school bill both last month and this month but we were never approached or pressured for the money. The Lord and His faithfulness has supplied an anonymous gift in January of $300 and this month another anonymous gift of just over $600! Wow... what faithfulness!

The Lord has also supplied many, many job opportunities for Aaron. Over the last six months no matter what we did we could not find work. This semester God has allowed call backs on many of those applications Aaron filled out. Six call backs in 2 days (Monday and Tuesday of last week). We could only laugh at God's humor!

Aaron was hired at Kmart for 2 weeks but because of no training offered to him and lack of hours he has taken a job with Anesthesia Business Consultants. He started last Monday and will be working Monday through Friday with hopes of working from 1-5 every day. He will be sorting mail, filing and doing many other task. We want to say a special thank you to Anthony for his part in getting Aaron this work!
He also as the opportunity to work with a builder here in Jackson on the weekends (only when needed) doing side work. We want to say a special thank you to Doug for his part in getting Aaron this work too!
With both of these jobs Aaron will be able to get the 20-25 hours of part time work we've been praying for!

The Boys:
The boys have been doing great! We all just got over having the flu and Ethan, we are praying, is over his long 5-6 week ear infection.

They love their classes in mini toddlers and preschool! Each day they go down to childcare and seem to have a great time!

They are both excited about baby Brayden! As mommie's belly gets bigger they both love to touch and feel Brayden kick and move around!

Jamithy has been feeling pretty good. She was sick with the flu on Valentines Day but found relief a day or two later. Walking up 4 flights of stairs has really been challenging but as long as she doesn't overdue it she feels great!

We all can't wait for the weather to warm up. We are excited to escape often from our dorm!

We love you guys and can't thank you enough for your support and your faithfulness in praying for us.

2006-02-21T21:48:00.000-05:00

LATEST PRAYER POINT
Bena Bena tribe, Papua New Guinea (February 21st):

The Bena people gave a lot of thought to the words and illustration of missionaries David Lee and Rich Foster as they taught about God’s law last week. Please pray that the Benas will see their condition before God and their inability to earn salvation by their works.

Update:

2006-02-08T22:42:00.000-05:00

Hey, thanks for coming back to visit us!

We are setteling into our second block of classes for this semester.

Time sure flies when your learning so much.

What a privelage!

A chance of a lifetime... a chance to get to know God better through His Word!

The Lord has used way more than classes to teach and humble us.

It has been very hard and quite the challenge getting by with no income.

Wow... its only by God's grace that we have made it this far

and we continue to trust in His awesome faithfulness.

We love being here and being able to fellowship with many other believers on a daily basis! It is so cool to see God showing us how and where He can use us right now were we are at.

We have made some really special relationships with many of the married couples.

Its really been encouraging to see the honesty of these couples

and their sincere desire to serve the Lord and their families.

Being here is such a blessing and awesome experience!

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

BENA MAN TRUSTS IN CHRIST PNG

2006-02-04T20:53:00.000-05:00

By David Bell - 2006.02.02

GOROKA, Papua New Guinea: Though missionaries are still in the early stages of evangelistic Bible teaching, Maki has already come to realize that Jesus paid his sin debt. The Bena man kept repeating “Manaka” (which means “It is true”) as he and missionary Rich Foster checked a Bible lesson about the Law.As Maki worked with Rich in the translation and preparation of Bible lessons for the Bena Bena people, he put the pieces together and something clicked in his heart and mind. God gave him an understanding of the Gospel and he gave Rich a clear testimony of his faith in Christ.This week other Benas will hear the lesson about the Law. Pray that Maki will now grow in his faith, and pray that more Benas will understand the salvation message and believe

Its a BOY!

2006-01-31T01:03:00.000-05:00

We went in today, Monday,

and found out that we are for sure having boy #3.

Wow!

Brayden seems to be healthy

and seems to be a bit laid back like his dad.

Austin went with us to see his brother and

could really only recognize the arm and fingers of baby Brayden on the ultrasound screen.

When he saw the spine, daddy told him it looked like a dinosaur fossil and he agreed, but he wouldn't believe that his brother was a dinosaur as daddy tried to convince him. He was really excited when we told him he was going to have yet another baby brother.

Austin said he doesn't want to change any diapers,

because they're to messy, but he will feed him a bottle.

Listen to a message from Jamithy!

2006-01-25T23:40:00.000-05:00

Listen to a message from Aaron!

2006-01-25T23:37:00.000-05:00

What a blessing to be able to thank God's people for all their prayer and financial support!

2006-01-22T00:29:00.000-05:00

Praises!
The Lord has provided the unbelievable $3,000 we needed, within the four week time frame, to come back to school. Wow, we are so humbled by His provision and are beyond excited to see what more God has for our family this semester.

Work while gone

After returning home on December 17th the Lord provided us with work from within our home church! Aaron was able to take work at the church and two famlies from the church also supplied him with work at their homes.

Housing while gone

The Lord graciously provided us housing the whole four weeks we were gone! It was so awesome to see God's people again be so generous and giving.

We hope all of you had a wonderful

Christmas and New Year!

We did! The break from training was really nice but with it also came some challenging and growing times. Packing and repacking all of our belongings, 12 times, before settling back here at school last Sunday night was probably one of our biggest challenges. Not easy, but good training. We are definitely appreciative for the places we were able to stay. It grew both our appreciation for the way God chooses to supply our needs while deepening our faith and dependance on Him.

Employment Update

Aaron headed out this week with a good friend trying to find employment. He has been offered a job at Kmart, which has been a huge blessing . Only one problem; the position offered to him was a stocking over night position. It would be 10pm - 6am three days a week. Aaron is worried that it will effect his concentration and alertness in classes while also passing over the recommended maximum hours of work while being a full time student. Aaron finds it really hard to pass up work but we both are trusting that the Lord will supply him with the right job at the right time. Job training is not until this Thursday so please be praying. *

*Aaron also has a interview at a call center on Tuesday 1:30 pm

The Boys!

They are truly exicted to be in classes again too! Both of them went to class with no problems this week. Austin seems to be adapting to our new life really well. The only problem Ethan had was learning to settle down again in his own bed; all by himself. We have been consistent and have recently noticed him finally being able to adjust back to getting in bed without much crying.

Ethan was sick a couple weeks ago and has gotten sick again. Pray that he can stay healthy and that I will get rest at night and also be able to stay in classes.

While on break we found out that Austin loves putting puzzels together! Not just the little ones but the 100 piece ones. Of course, with only a little help from mom and dad!

Baby News At 18 Weeks!

Jamithy had an appointment last Monday and the baby's heart beat sounds real good! We find out in 8 days (Jan. 30th) if we are having another boy or girl! We are excited and expect it to be another sweet baby boy but we must confess that we would be really tickled if we were to have a girl!

We'll keep you posted.

Jamithy has been feeling much better other than some minor pregnancy inconveinces.

Things we ask our partners to be in prayer about...

*Please continue to pray for us during our sophomore semester, we just finished our first week. The classes are going to be a lot more challenging and the reading load is a lot heavier.

* Please be in prayer that the Lord would richly bless all those who have partnered with us prayerfully, financially or in any other way. Enabeling us to press on toward reaching the lost.

*Please pray that while taking the partnership development class this semester that we will be able to recognize our vision even more clearly and be able to articulate it in a way that will get others excited about missions.

*Please pray for the Lord's will in finding employment

*Please pray that the Lord will supply the monthly tuition of $450 to stay here in training.

*Please pray for the specific areas that God may use us while in training and in the future. We are contacting Papua New Guinea headquaters and sharing our vision, our hearts and our desire to be a part of ministering to the lost.

*Please be in prayer that the Lord will sell our house. The mortgage company has given us the ability to have a renter stay in our house until August. We are praying that the Lord will sell our house by then or have the mortgage company extend the time we are able to rent it out.

*Pray for us to be able to spend enough time with the boys. As parents, to be Christ like examples and for wisdom in raising them.

* PLEASE PRAY THAT MORE PEOPLE WILL HEAR HIS CALL AND GO SHARE THE GOSPEL TO THE LOST PEOPLE OF THIS WORLD. Pray that these people will be strengthend daily by the renewing of His strength.

"Tell those who are rich in this world not to be proud

and not to trust in their money,

which will soon be gone.

But their trust should be in the living God,

who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment."

I Timothy 6:17 (NLT)

The End of the Spear - The story of five missionaries martyred 50 years ago hits the big screen!

2006-01-21T14:26:00.000-05:00

http://www.endofthespear.com/

A movie based on the life of Missionary Jim Elliot. Click on the link above and watch the trailer. There is a listing of theatres on their website to see if the movie is showing in your area.

http://www.mnnonline.org/article/8217 Mission Network New -
LISTEN TO THIS AWESOME INTERVIEW WITH THE SON OF ONE OF THE MARTYRED AND HIS TRIBAL FRIEND MINKEI.

IT IS TRULY AMAZING AND SO ENCOURAGING!

Encouraging you to visit the THEATERS

this weekend to see

THE END OF THE SPEAR

- a life changing movie, documentary and book.

Christmas Break Is Here!!!!

2005-12-16T23:22:00.000-05:00

Wow, today almost the whole school cleared out of here and it is seriously like a ghost town. Picture this... an old junior high school building. And your family; being one of only a few families or singles remaining in the entire building. Spooky!

Since we do not have enough work to lead us into next week we have decided to head back to the Toledo area on Saturday the 16th. Aaron will be painting floors all day and than we plan to leave around 7:00pm. This will be our primary location for the next month.

If you can remember to pray for us as we come back to Toledo. Aaron is planning to visit the temporary agency first thing Monday morning. We are praying that God already has something lined up for us; enabling us to start to raise the $2,800 needed by January 1st.

Thanks again for praying continually for our family.
419-304-6532

Praise The Lord!

2005-12-14T07:46:00.000-05:00

We have CAR insurance again!

Check out the New Links

2005-12-12T21:05:00.000-05:00

Jehovah Jireh - Our Provider: is a place where we list all provisions God has supplied for us. Giving us a good reminder of His faithfulness! Still adding to list

New Tribes Mission: can encourage you and uplift you with all God is doing in the mission field!

Our Home Church: feel free to visit sometime.

Our Web site: unfortunately is not ready for viewing yet.

While in Jehovah Jireh:you can visit the NTM@Work magazine. Which will plug you in to articles and stories that are actually happening month to month on the mission field.

Praying for a miracle

2005-12-12T18:53:00.000-05:00

As of today, Monday December 12, 2005, we are in great need of finances. We met with the dean of married students this afternoon to set up a budget while here at school. During the meeting he found our finances to be not enough to live on let alone trying to save and pay tuition for next semester.

The school has a debt free policy and we believe we need to abide by it. It breaks our hearts to think we might have to take some time off from training to raise money to pay these fees. But we know no matter where God has us we can still be used by Him.
As of now, we are in need of $2800 by January 1st to be able to stay here in training. This will bring us to the breaking even point. Not impossible but a heavy load to try and carry especially at this time of year.

We remain optimistic and faithful to the Lord's call on our lives. We know these trials and tribulations are to create NEED in our lives. NEED for no one else but the Savior. We are learning just how helpless we really are and just how mighty He is.
Through these times we chose to rejoice; knowing that our faith is being tested and we are truly growing in light of our circumstances. Sure we have moments of weakness, heartache and brokenness but God's peace is ever present and always abounding.

Pray for wisdom for us to decide what to do for Christmas break this Thursday. It will cost us a lot of money to stay here and as of now we still don't have any reliable work. If we leave we will probably stay in Toledo and try and find a job there for the four weeks we have off. The only problem is that we will only have a place to stay until January 1st. Please pray that the Lord will supply somewhere for us to stay during the first week or two of January.

Thank you for taking time to read our update and for your continued prayers.

Praise and Prayer Request.

2005-12-11T12:14:00.000-05:00

Praise the Lord and thank you!

Thank you; to those of you who have given to us financially. We know that God will richly bless you for your sacrafice.

We praise God for Aaron being able to work on Saturday. We are praying that the Lord will bring other work for us aswell.

Christmas Break; we aren't sure if we will be staying here through break or somewhere else. We recently found out that it will cost us a lot of money to stay here over break. We were hoping to find a job that would give Aaron the ability to work more while on break. God hasn't brought that work just yet and we are at a loss of where to go and what to do.

Please continue to pray that we will make wise choices and feel at peace about them.

Thanks for all your support!

Encouraging Words At Every Turn!

2005-12-06T13:52:00.000-05:00

God has used

topics in classes,

messages in chapels

and conversations with others

to encourage me over the past couple of weeks.

* The day we studied David and Goliath I was encouraged to see the way David looked through the difficult circumstances in order to slay the giant.

* We watched a movie, in chapel, "When Things Seem Impossible". A story about missionaries who were kidnapped. Even in captivity the missionaries remained faithful and optimistic. God was able to deliver them back to safety because they kept their focus on God and not on their circumstances.

* One day last week, at a time when I was particularly discouraged, God used a friend to help me put my discouragement in perspective.

-Aaron

Praise: Answered Need - LOOK AND SEE JUST HOW GOOD OUR GOD IS!

2005-12-06T12:48:00.017-05:00

After facing many; many storms last week we have been so encouraged seeing God's faithfulness in our lives these last couple days!

We are so grateful for the family that generously donated enough funds to re-purchase our vehicles insurance for the next few months.
We praise the Lord for your faithfulness and your trust in His provision to be willing to give so much to others.

We are praying that God will richly bless you!

We also want to give all the glory and honor to God for providing this for our family and for also providing possible work! Thats right...WORK!!! It looks like God has provided Aaron with some side work starting Wednesday and we are rejoicing!

Lord, we are so grateful to be here.

Everyday we grow in recognizing that your working in our lives

even in the midst of valleys.

We praise you and thank you for keeping us here in training

and by your power alone.

Lord, we pray that you can use our experiences to encourage others and further your kingdom!

Praise: Answered Need - A Huge Thank You...

2005-12-05T11:06:00.000-05:00

to the family that provided the boys with really nice warm winter coats! What a blessing! Thank you for allowing the Lord to use you and bless us all at the same time!

Jamithy's 27th Birthday!

2005-12-04T23:48:00.000-05:00

Reflecting on a tough week...

After looking back at what this last week had brought I can say, with a huge breath, that I'm thankful for all the trials we faced this last week. Never want to go back, but thankful and excited to see God growing me each and every day! What an awesome thing to reflect back on a week full of twists and turns and realize that its only by God's grace alone that you stand with a smile on your face today.

To me its just amazing and so exciting!

Lord, I thank you so much for all your teaching our family

and how you are molding us to be more like you!

Thank you for always being there and promising to never leave our side.

You have used many things to grow, stretch and humble us.

Lord, continue to use what ever means you need

to get us to the exact place of true humility,

individually and together,

enabling us to serve you and only you the best we can!

A special celebration!!!!

Tonight, just before midnight, my really good girlfriends (singles) came down to give me a huge surprise! Jamie, Rachel, April, Posa and Alisa snuck up and presented me with 4 of the cutest marshmallows on a plate topped with 4 pretty tricky candles. In between the 4 cutest marshmallows sat upright a petite piece of chocolate or better know as an (O.G. / Oliver Garden) Andies Mint!

Then my sweetie-pie girlfriends proceeded to sing a wonderfully loud and joyous O.G. traditional birthday song! It was so loud it hurt my ears, but I loved it! It was so exciting to me! In the dark candle lit hallway, pajamas and all, I quickly started jumping up and down, turning circles and clapping my hands with the beat! Wow...How much fun was that! It truly was the best surprise of the year!

Thanks girls for making my day away from family a great one! Love ya!

December 3, 2005 First Support Letter

2005-12-04T23:25:00.000-05:00

Dear Prayer Partners,

How will the indigenous people in remote areas of the world hear the Good News of Jesus Christ?

We are missionaries in training at New Tribes Bible Institute (NTBI) and New Tribes Mission (NTM), whose focus is on reaching unreached people groups throughout the world. We have two sons, Austin (4) and Ethan (1-1/2), and a baby on the way (due June 27th). We have been married for 7 years. Jamithy has had a passion for missions since she was a teen, while Aaron felt the calling about one year ago. Upon the requests of our friends, the Williamsons (New Tribes missionaries to Papua New Guinea), we looked into New Tribes for our training. After visiting, we quickly recognized that we needed Bible & cultural training before we could be useful in a foreign field.

We have chosen to be fully devoted to God’s plan for our lives. Aaron believes the Lord has blessed him with construction abilities that will be useful in fulltime ministry work. We plan to work in a support role as construction specialists, building missionary homes, schools and churches and assisting the missionaries in the tribes, any way we can.

We are currently attending NTBI, the first phase of the training, which will finish in May of 2007. God has brought us to Jackson, Michigan and shown us how important and severe the need is for laborers in the hard to reach areas of the world. Our training will continue in Missouri with another two years at the Language and Culture Institute. After our training is complete, we will have about one year to finish raising our support and finalize our preparations to leave the country and begin our ministry abroad. At this time we are leaning toward ministering in Papua New Guinea.

There is an enormous need for people to go and be willing to fill support roles for missionary families in the tribe. At this time there are many tribal missionaries who have been pulled out or held back because of a lack of support missionaries to assist them. These families need supplies ordered and brought in, homes, schools and churches built, health services, school teachers for their children, repairs and maintenance, and there are many more areas of need. The truth is that there are very few that are willing to go; please continue to pray with us that God will send more workers to harvest His field.

By fulfilling the support role the missionary can be free to go into one of more than 4,000 unreached people groups throughout the world. These people represent most of the world’s population, who have yet to hear the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Isolated tribal groups with no roads to the outside world seem to be totally forgotten. But Christ died for them too, they just need someone to go and tell them. Incredibly, Papua New Guinea has a total of over 850 languages. Of those languages, 700 have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and 500 of those languages don’t even have a chance to hear because they lack the Word of God in their own mother tongue.

We hope by God’s grace, to cooperate with the tribal church planters in their endeavors to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to these people.

We are so excited to continue growing in God’s Word and remain here in training. We have found our faith has grown by leaps and bounds as a result of the many trials and tribulations we have faced financially. We have been faithfully praying that the Lord would supply Aaron with employment or choose to meet our needs through other means. Currently, we have a need of $1400. This would enable us to faithfully continue this work we have set out to do. We also have a need of another $1750, due January 5, 2006, for the down payment for next semester. Our monthly needed living expenses and tuition payments during our time in training are $1500 per month.

We would greatly appreciate your prayers. Thank you for considering partnering in our ministry and may God bless you and your church family.

Only by His grace,
Aaron & Jamithy Sawade

P.S. We look forward to visiting you soon. If you have any question please email sawades4christ@yahoo.com or call (517)796-5401. If you would like to read our latest newsletter: www.livinghopetoledo.org/missions.asp

December 3, 2005 First Support Letter

2005-12-04T23:19:00.000-05:00

I love you and think of you often! I hope all is going well and I look forward to seeing you soon.

I thought you might like to read our support letter we sent out to Aaron's dad's church. It was our first one so we tried gaining a lot of wisdom from people/staff that have been there.

We will be mailing these out to all of our prayer partners.

We have been truly pushed to the breaking point this week but God is so faithful and through the midst of not seeing Him at work we truly believe He is more at work than ever. We have shed many tears together but the cool thing is that through it all we have a great peace and reassurance that God loves us and wants only what is best for us. Its so refreshing and every day we have the opportunity to look at our circumstance as God molding us and growing us more and more! God has used major areas in our life this last week to humble us and bring our marriage to a much needed closeness.
I never thought Aaron would be able to handle so much pressure. He is indeed surprised too. We give all the credit to God and His faithfulness. It is so awesome to see when we are pushed to the breaking point that we both unite and have exactly the same heart. Our tears are not from anger or rage (which I thought might be how Aaron would handle it) but of confusion and doing the best we can. We know God knows that and we know He is good and not only will He bless us but he will receive all the glory from it.

I'll fill you in with all the details next time I talk/see you.

Thanks for all your support and all your prayers. Love ya!

November 28, 2005 Happy Thanksgiving!!

2005-12-04T23:18:00.000-05:00

Wow, what an awesome thing to email each and every one of you. As we selected each of your names we thought of you and thanked the Lord for the awesome privilege we have to know you!

I know its hard to find the time to send an email but we would be greatly encouraged to hear from you. Let us know about your stories and all God is doing in your families. Also send us prayer request. We would love to know how to pray for you more specifically.

A special thanks to all of you who have been praying for us during these last few weeks of illness. Over the last two weeks we visited urgent care once, the emergency room twice, and the doctors office three times. Wow.

The boys took turns at not being able to breath. Being pregnant, having headaches, and feeling a bit cautious staying up at night was defiantly a challenge. Praise God for giving Aaron and I both strength to get through those days!
At first the doctors thought it was pneumonia, then asthma, than croup, and finally they were both treated with antibiotics for severe sinus infections. The medicine is working and God is graciously aiding both the boys to better health!

We have so much to be thankful for and we are excited to be able to share it with you!

Tons of Love and Stuffing,
The Sawades

November 14, 2005 Prayer Request

2005-12-04T23:13:00.000-05:00

We went to urgent care to see if they could help us with our symptoms.

They said that Ethan's is probably related to asthma like his daddy. Great huh? He is taking a steroid and breathing treatments to help get rid if his wheezing.

Saturday and Sunday I was really sick. Praise God today I am starting to feel a bit better. I thought I had another ear infection, because they hurt and felt plugged up, but they checked my ears while at urgent and they were clear of infection.

Please pray for us to gain our health back and pray that the Lord will give us all energy to keep up with classes.

This last week I have been setting time aside to homeschool Austin through several pre-k books. As we consider continuing to homeschool please be praying that God will give us His clear direction.

Thanks again and God Bless!
Jamithy

November 14, 2005 Prayer Request

2005-12-04T23:10:00.000-05:00

Thank you for continuing to pray for us...

Our mortgage company is taking out automatically over $700 tomorrow and we only have about $550. Please pray that God will provide the means or take care of the messy bouncing of the check.
We are faithful for God's provision today, tomorrow and the day after. Please pray that we both can continue to give all of our fears and worries to the one who can make the difference.
Just a side note: Our renter has been very dependable...the shortage has come from our living expenses.

We called to see if they would take a partial payment of $500 but they denied our request.

My wedding ring has been making my finger itch on and off over the last couple years. Today, Aaron tried taking it to a couple dealers to see if we could get a good chunk of money to pay some bills and to replace it with a smaller one. Needless to say they only would offer him a whopping $150. 10% of what he paid. Ladies its really OK, we always felt we had spent to much money on my ring. Back then we were both working and weren't committed to much of anything.

Please pray for us...we know we are suppose to be here in training at this time. God showed us that by providing our school bill to be paid through December. We desire so strongly to get our debt paid off. Were not sure why Aaron is not working and why things seem so difficult. But we do know that he is teaching us and in His timing will help us take care of our debt.

We covet all your prayers.

Only by His grace,
Aaron, Jamithy, Austin, Ethan and baby # 3

November 02,2005 More Training...Lice in child care.

2005-12-04T22:55:00.000-05:00

Hey, you read it right...there was lice on a couple kids in child care today. Unfortunately, Austin was one of them.
We have never had to deal with something like this...at first I was embarrassed but after realizing that it wasn't a "dirty" issue I started to feel a lot better. Many of the missionaries said that we will experience this a lot as we go to other countries and tribes. Needless to say I was called out of class and given proper instruction on how to treat and get rid of lice. I started by shaving off all the boys hair and giving them showers. Attached is a picture of the poor little guys!
I have about 10 huge 32 gallon garbage bags full of sheets, blankets, hats, coats, clothes ect. They told us every day for two weeks we need to check each others hair and vacuum everything. Please pray for endurance, with pregnancy I have found myself very tired again, as we clean the apartment from top to bottom, as we continue to keep all the other chores in order, try to spend quiet time with the Lord, find time for homework, and make sure to prioritize our marriage and our time with the kids.

We also have three praises to share with you!

Last Friday we realized that we did not have enough money to purchase diapers. We spent all afternoon having faith that the Lord will supply. We had a dinner and contest at school Friday night and the prizes for the contest was a gift card to Meijer. We ended up losing by 1 point and we new that just wasn't how God was going to answer our need. Later on, with only two diapers left, I got a bit restless and thought we should borrow $30 from our friends. After all they had told us if we ever got in a pickle they would be glad to help us out. Aaron wasn't excited about that idea so we didn't pursue it any further. No later than 30 min. later Aaron was moving the computer desk and had found a check from my grandparents wrote us for $30! Needless to say I called them and let them know what a blessing it was to us. Saturday morning I went to the Sams and was able to purchase a big box of diapers!

On Monday, Aaron had an emergency dentist appointment. We had to have $20 to pay our deductible with Medicaid. We had nothing. We really trusted God and wanted to have active faith. Aaron had planned on leaving for his appointment with nothing trusting God would work it all out. And by the grace of God he did. Aaron remembered he had some brakes for the van that he could return... he received back $30!
When he got to the dental office instead of asking for our $20 they only asked for $3! Praise God he answered our prayers again!

Then came Tuesday, Aaron had to have gas in the van to make 2 hours of travel time! Praise God, with that extra money left over from Monday we were able to put in $20!

Our God is truly amazing and the peace He brings us through the storms is truly indescribable.
Praise God for how richly he has blessed our family and all he using and doing to teach us to be more like Him!

We love you covet your prayers,
Love the Sawade Family